Today's Op Ed was one more example of industry leadership with a nice blend of pro shark pro conservation messaging. Kudos.

"Hollywood catapulted the great white shark into the world’s consciousness in 1975 when Steven Spielberg’s JAWS hit the big screen. Previously confined to an obscure world below the ocean’s waves, the box-office hit created a monster with a lust for wanton killing in the terrified minds of its audiences. As shark-attack hysteria gripped the world a great white shark killing frenzy ensued. Population numbers plummeted and an apex predator with a history 200 million years older than the first dinosaur started swimming towards the land of the dodo."

Kristine Stump, the current Principal Investigator at the Bimini Biological Field Station, describes the research she is conducting as a part of her PhD studies.

Kristine's doctorate thesis investigates the effects of habitat loss on the juvenile lemon sharks that use Bimini as their primary nursery.

Bimini's mangrove lagoons function as critical habitat for a wealth of wildlife, from seahorses and snappers to stingrays and sharks. Kristine's study aims to quantify the impact that removing these mangrove nurseries will have on Bimini's lemon shark population, and the wider ecosystem as a whole.